Download Greek Government Athens The government of fourth

Greek Government
Athens
The government of fourth-century Athens was a direct democracy,
which meant that the citizens of Athens governed themselves and that
political office was open to almost everyone.
The Assembly, which required a quorum of six thousand people, met
thirty to forty times a year. The members discussed matters that had
been put on the agenda by the Council. Every member had the right to
speak and offer opinions. Voting was done by show of hands, and
meetings were to last no longer than one day.
The Council was composed of five hundred citizens, all over the age of
thirty. Council members were chosen by lot, with fifty chosen from
each tribe. Duties of council members included discussing and
preparing bills for the Assembly, prosecuting charges of treason,
superintending religious festivals, and managing public buildings and
naval works.
The courts met about two hundred days each year, but never on the
same day as an Assembly meeting. The courts were manned by six
thousand jurors, who were chosen by lot. To qualify to be a juror, a
male citizen had to be over thirty years of age and could not be in debt
to the state. Juries consisted of 201, 401, or 501 jurors, depending on
the type of case.
Jurors also had other duties. Some counted votes. Others paid daily
wages to those jurors who were on duty. Still others monitored the
water clocks. (Both defendants and accusers were allotted a limited
amount of time in which to present their arguments. When a
predetermined amount of water had flowed into a container, their time
was up.)
The jurors at the People's Court tried all cases but treason and
homicide. There was no judge—the jury alone passed judgment, and
litigants conducted their own defense and prosecution.
Although the Athenian form of democracy was highly regarded in
ancient Greece, it was not the only type of government among the
Greek city-states. The Spartan form of government, for example,
combined monarchy (rule by kings) with oligarchy (rule by a few) and
democracy (rule by many).
Sparta
The ideology of Sparta was oriented around the state. The individual
lived (and died) for the state. Men’s lives were designed to serve the
state from their beginning to the age of sixty. The combination of this
ideology, the education of Spartan males, and the disciplined
maintenance of a standing army gave the Spartans tremendous power
and stability.
The Spartans could point to their society and argue, because of its
moral values and human courage and strength, that it was as great as
it was before civilization. Spartan society, then, exercised a profound
pull on the surrounding city-states who admired the simplicity,
discipline and order of Spartan life.
In Sparta, there were two kings. Both commanded the army in war.
The Spartan Council included both kings and a group of twenty-eight
elders. Like the Athenian Council, the Spartan Council prepared
material for the Assembly. Unlike the Athenian Council, the Spartan
Council voted by shouting, and its decisions were sometimes set aside,
which greatly reduced its power.
The Spartan Assembly was made up of an elite group of male citizens
over the age of thirty, each of whom had been elected as an “Equal.”
There were no People's Courts in Sparta, and, in general, Sparta's
form of government complemented the rigid military lifestyle of its
inhabitants.
In a speech given in 355 BCE, Demosthenes defined the most
important difference between the Athenian and Spartan political
systems in the following manner: “In Athens, it was permitted to
praise the Spartan government and not the Athenian form, whereas in
Sparta no one could praise any system other than the Spartan.”